The Rafael del Pino Foundation is organising the event on 5 November at 7.00 pm, «The Future of Madrid: Innovation Hubs and the Global Race for Talent», in which the following will take part Asier Alea, Director of Global Development at the Basque Culinary Centre; Victor Mulas, Chief Innovation Officer at the Cambridge Innovation Centre (CIC) and Chair of CIC Catalyst; Jorge Cortell Albert, visiting professor at the Institute of Science Tokyo and former Senior Advisor for Healthcare & Life Sciences at Harvard Innovation Labs; and Mercedes Delgado, Associate Professor of Strategy and Innovation at Copenhagen Business School.
Asier Alea is Director of Global Development at the Basque Culinary Centre, where it is driving forward its internationalisation strategy and the development of GOe – Gastronomy Open Ecosystem, an innovation ecosystem designed to bring together talent, research, entrepreneurship and businesses to shape the future of gastronomy and food. He is a graduate magna cum laude He holds a degree in Economics and International Relations from Boston University, undertook postgraduate studies in Economics at the University of Oxford, and holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Throughout his career, he has worked at L.E.K. Consulting, Telefónica, the United Nations, Guascor and Dresser-Rand, and served as Director of Economic Development and Strategic Projects at the Provincial Council of Bizkaia before joining the Basque Culinary Centre.
Victor Mulas is Chief Innovation Officer at the Cambridge Innovation Centre (CIC) and Chair of CIC Catalyst, where he leads international initiatives aimed at designing and developing innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems. He has over twenty years’ experience in innovation, technology and start-up ecosystems. Before joining CIC, he spent more than twelve years at the World Bank, where he led programmes relating to disruptive technologies, innovation, smart cities and entrepreneurial ecosystems. He has advised governments and organisations in various countries on innovation and entrepreneurship policies and is also involved in initiatives relating to Japan’s start-up ecosystem.
Jorge Cortell Albert is visiting lecturer at the Institute of Science Tokyo, where he works at the Centre for Medical Innovation, and Executive Director of TECH-Tokyo. Between 2023 and 2025, he was Senior Advisor for Healthcare & Life Sciences at Harvard Innovation Laboratories, where he worked with entrepreneurs and researchers on the development of innovation projects in the life sciences and healthcare. A serial entrepreneur and specialist in technological innovation, he has developed projects in fields such as artificial intelligence, precision medicine, clinical genomics, medical imaging and digital pathology. He has also been a Senior Fellow in international innovation at the Technology and Entrepreneurship Centre at Harvard and a Venture Partner at NLC Health.
Mercedes Delgado is an associate professor of Strategy and Innovation at Copenhagen Business School and Research Affiliate at MIT. His research examines the role of clusters industrial sectors and innovation ecosystems in the areas of job creation, entrepreneurship, innovation, inclusion and resilience. It has developed new methodologies for defining and mapping clusters industry and supply chains, and has been involved in projects aimed at understanding how businesses, institutions and regions can make better use of scientific and technological talent. She holds a PhD in Business Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid, a Master’s degree in Economics from Northwestern University, and has undertaken postdoctoral research at Harvard Business School and the National Bureau of Economic Research. She is also co-director of the annual programme Frontiers of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, developed by the Rafael del Pino Foundation and the MIT Sloan School of Management.
If you would like to attend, please contact the Foundation by e-mail at confirmaciones@frdelpino.es.